Four games after his eight-game suspension and CB Cam Sutton has expanded his role. Serving as a dime and specialty package player his first three weeks back, Sutton took over rookie Beanie Bishop Jr.’s slot corner role in Sunday’s win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Per our weekly charting, Bishop only played in dime packages while Sutton saw the other sub-package groupings.
That’s reflected in their snap totals. From Weeks 10-12, Sutton didn’t log more than 19 snaps. Against the Bengals, that number jumped up to 45. Bishop went the other direction. After playing at least 21 snaps in every game this season, Bishop’s total was reduced to six yesterday.
The Steelers still mixed in their situational packages, a “big nickel” with three safeties instead of three corners on the field. Mostly against 12 personnel, those reps had Sutton on the sidelines. But he played the rest of Pittsburgh’s non-base defense snaps, including all 37 in the team’s true nickel groupings. Bishop was only saw the field in dime, used sparingly despite the Bengals’ big passing day and playing from behind late.
Whether or not this was a game plan decision or the team’s plan going forward remains to be seen. We’ll get a better feel for it come Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. But it appears the Steelers slow-played Sutton on his way back, not wanting to give him a full plate coming off his suspension. Now, they’re ramping him up.
Sutton’s performance is still mixed. He gave up two touchdowns against the Bengals, short goal line scores against WR Tee Higgins and WR Andrei Iosivas. Sutton forced incompletions on his other two targets. His coverage hasn’t been great. Far from it.
But the team values his versatility, experience, and AFC North knowledge. He can wear lots of hats in the secondary and move all around which helps when the team travels Joey Porter Jr. If he moves, everyone else has to, and Sutton is comfortable playing any position or situation that leaves him. There was one rep where Sutton was the outside corner because Porter shifted to the slot. In dime, Sutton can spin and rotate to present new post-snap pictures to the receivers and quarterbacks.
The Steelers could also be sheltering Bishop from the rookie wall after making him their full-time slot corner until yesterday. And despite his big-time interceptions, Bishop hasn’t been great in coverage this year with communication breakdowns and miscues.
Pittsburgh’s slot situation is still messy. It’s not clear who their long-term option is. Hopefully Bishop but the jury is out. A pending free agent, will Sutton return in 2025? As for the here and now, the team is trending towards Sutton for the home stretch.
